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Dude, though it may be a crime not everyone's seen AIR. You should spoiler that (that is, the parts after what I quoted.)

EDIT: And to stay on topic myself, I've not seen KnM and so far I'm not sure what to make of KTS.... Looks like it could be fun at least. And I also liked hearing the internal monologue of Kuu, the episode would have been much less without it.

The first thing to get clear here is that Yahagi Sayuri (Kuu) is now a voice goddess. She may be only 20 and have been working for less than a year and a half, but just listen to the full, liquid voice and the subtle color and shading in her delivery. You may not like this kind of drippy style, and that's fine. But I like it, and I haven't heard a version better. There were moments when I thought she was starting to become same -- and then she changed gears. Do I hear the odd hint of Tamura Yukari there? Sayuri-chan is working with Yukarin in Otogijushi Akazukin, and I think may be learning some of her style. Just sugoi.

As for episode 2 itself, I wouldn't have expected this, but it's looking good to me. The story is intriguing. The music is just excellent. I personally love the character design. The fanservice -- sight, sound, and implication, hetero, yuri, and bro-con -- works wonderfully. And the voice acting is generally excellent. Konishi Katsuyuki (Kyoushiro) played Kenta opposite Sayuri-chan in Karen, and I think the slight deadness in his voice works great here. Matsuoka Yuki as Setsuna is appropriately otherworldly. And Kawasumi Ayako plays Kaon.

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Kimura Juri木村珠莉 Joined Tokyo Voice Actors' Co-op in 2011, did voice-overs for corporate presentations. Anime bit parts 2013-14. Stars in Shirobako as Miyamori, will star in Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku (spring). Enjoys music, looking at Buddha images, reading. Used to work at a bookstore. Says she is a maudlin drunk. Age unknown.Hashihime blog | Twitter@nakanokimi |

The only thing I have to resent to this episode is that we were robbed again of finding out Kuu's importance to the story. I've fell in love with this show at episode 01, but 02 just filled in most of the blanks and I can only hope for the best with this one.

I've got to like the story behind the manmade zettai tenshi (ultimate angels?) and their powers. For now, they're showing off "The Kiss" as nothing but a power transfer. I think it's just a fasade though, to show everyone that there's a lot more to it than friction and momentous spark. I believe they're slowly setting up a wonderful illustration of "The Power Of The Kiss" one by one, and I have hopes it will turn out marvelous.

The two zettai tenshi we've met (leaving Talulotte aside) have so far rejected the thought of having an intimate relationship with their two dishes (I guess we could call them that). They give off a vibe of being weapons, still I wonder what Mika-sama actually is, and if she acts like an obedient weapon to someone we haven't been introduced to. While Setsuna actually acts like a weapon, Kaon acts more like a master over Himiko even though she can't do anything without her power.

Kuu should really cut down a bit on writing letters to her prince. I think she did so at least 4 times in this episode. Other than that, I fully agree with Kaoru_Chujo's assessment of Sayuri-chan's work so far. I'm liking her thin, yet rich colour of her wonderful voice. It really creates an image of fuziness and warmth everytime I hear it now.

A bit late, though i was finally able to watch the subbed version - and i must say i'm very much interested in this show. One look at it and you just see beautiful after beautiful scenes - though there's a lot more to it, its able to carry on delivering that beautiful feeling through the entire episode. Shall have to check out the manga now.

& of course - people who know me know that'll be commenting on the musical score. So far its got a epic/beautiful feeling to it - works perfectly for this show, though that is what Kubota Mina is known for.

oh ho im loving this series now ep 1 was just average but ep 2 really pull things together into context ^_^

Spoiler:

well kuu gets kidnapped by kaon for some unknown purpose...but it seems to me that she doesnt mean any harm...i think she was forced by mika...which also shows that she is a true villain behind the plot...

as ive already said before the kisses were just to give the absolute angels their energy as demonstrated between kaon and himeko...but himeko is rather weak herself so she finds heself fainting...

the relationship between the absolute angels and their contractor is quite interesting...

kyoshiro and setsuna shares a strictly master and servent type of relationship...im feeling a sense of neglect on kyoshiro's part as setsuna seems be only used as a weapon and nothing else...cold this be a spawn of growing hatered for kyoshiro? i kinda feel sorry for setsuna as she displays signs of unhappiness and maybe jealousy that kyoshiro is paying more attention to kuu than her ~

kaon and himeko on the other hand share a "lovers" relationship somewat...and im willing to bet that mika has a yuri thing for himeko as well...hence her painful face when seeing himeko kiss kaon and also at the end where we see her taking himeko to another place...this jealousy on mika's part is clear to show in the future imo ~

things are really starting to pick up and its just a matter of time till events unfold ~

and this reminds me...this series is kinda like mai hime followed by mai otome in that sense that this series follow kannazuki no miko

Bishounen and Bishoujo take their prefex from bijin, which is a word used to describe femine, not masculine beauty.
Bishounen by definition are drawn as females but have male components. Some are actually referred to as female; Lady Oscar is a good example of a female bishounen and the leads of Takarazuka shows are usually refered to as bishounen by their primarily female fans.

Well, "bi" is also used for men, not only for women.
The reason bishounen has a common feature of feminine beauty is related to "shounen", rather than "bi."
You know shounen does not have equal masculine beauty since they are not mature as males and still neutral in their bodily development.
I don't think I have ever seen someone who is actually female being called bishounen.
She can look like one in male clothing and sometimes is mistaken for bishounen, but that's it.

Quote:

My initial criticism was about the inclusion of actual bishounen in the anime, and I think a good many people understood what I was referring to.
I was not saying the show shouldn't have attractive men in it, I was stating my distaste for a certain type of excessively feminized male character in what is a primarily shounen show.

The strict categorization of male and female animes or mangas I find in this site quite often puzzles me, since that kind of distinction is going away in Japan although it has been predominant so far.
It is true that most manga magazines are officially designated for a specific sex, but in reality marketing teams of such magazines do care about the opposite sex, which tends to be inherited by the animation teams.

For example, Red Garden is serialized in a seinen (young man) mag, but its animation is marketed in affiliation with a female fashion brand for the purpose of approaching female audience.

Peach Pot (the mangaka group of Rozen-Maiden) has been serializing a fantasy manga titled Zombie-Loan in a shounen mag and the series is notorious for the mix of boys' love and yuri. It apparently proves that it is aimed at both sexes and thus was criticized by male readership of the mag.

Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destinty is a mecha anime and that makes male fans tempted to think they are for them.
But the series were blatantly conscious of Gundam Wing which was famous as Yaoi Gundam.Code Geass, a recent hit by Sun Rise, is a similar case in that it is a mecha but is actually aimed at both sexes.

Shounen Jump, a representative shounen manga mag in Japan, has serialized Naruto, Bleach, Death Note and One Piece and all of the titles are externally shounen but are known as actually trying to feed their shoujo fans by deliberately downplaying female characters and providing attractive male characters continuously.
You know, this is not my opinion but is a well-known strategy among Japanese manga and anime people.

If you wanna talk about Kaishaku, the mangaka of Kyoshiro and KnM,
the group is one of the mangakas who keep a neutral position in most of their titles even though their mangas are serialized in shounen or seinen mags.
That's why KnM has a typical shoujo romance meme, yaoi tint and a group of bishounen.
That's why Kyoshiro features a bunch of bishounen, a bro-con bishounen protagonist, a heroine with loose Cinderella complex, and her narrative from a typical shoujo viewpoint.
If any of you don't like its shoujo-ishness, I'm sorry that's not your cup of tea.
You had better find more conservative shounen or seinen shows with unattractive male protagonists in any girl's opinion.
The truth is the traditional designation of shounen, seinen, shoujo and joushi is becoming less and less helpful in deciding the actual genre of a show, if you agree to my definition of such a genre that it refers to the marketing target of its producing group.

Like I said, there were fanservice on this one. Setsuna's soft voice is so cute that somehow it doesn't match when she's fighting. Chikane's look a like, Kaon, made her grand debut on this one. Kuu is still confuse on this episode but hey I can't blame her. Himeko's look alike Himiko seems to be like an attendant to Kuon...but I'm guessing Kuon doesn't think that way. She likes Himiko and that's quite obvious just like Setsuna like Kyoshiro. Btw, when Mika said punishment to Himiko...I wonder what kind of punishment will Mika gave Himiko and they have to go somewhere private to do it? Oh well, let's make our imagination run wild on this one . Well, there's definitely a yuri going on here but I don't think that's the main highlight to begin with

If you wanna talk about Kaishaku, the mangaka of Kyoshiro and KnM,
They are one of the mangakas who preserves a neutral position in most of their titles even though their mangas are serialized in shounen or seinen mags.
That's why KnM has typical a shoujou romance meme and yaoi tint and a group of bishounen.
That's why Kyoshiro features a bunch of bishounen, a bro-con male protagonist, a heroine with loose Cinderella complex, and her narrative from a typical shoujo viewpoint.
If any of you don't like its shojo-ishness, I'm sorry tha't not your cup of tea.
You had better find more conservative shounen or seinen shows with unattractive male protagonists in any girl's opinion and hot anime girls armed with fanservice spirit.

You're absolutely right about one thing. People can enjoy whatever title they want inspite of the label the manga magazine receives. But you have to know that the industry labels different titles with different labels with good reasons. One of them: There are so many titles available on the japanese paper publishing market that there is a need to target titles to readers systematically, unless their consumer base, as big as it is, would just be confused. They wouldn't know what to buy. That's why there are shounen, shoujo, josei, seinen etc. magazines so that readers can check out a magazine that covers an appropriate target audience. Young men will more likely find something interesting to read in a seinen magazine than in a josei magazine. This doesn't mean no men are willing to enjoy Nodame Cantabile, but the manga had to be good enough to spread over another audience.

And I hope you're not missing a valuable point here: manga serialized in seinen magazines will always be called seinen manga, and that's because the author started out with elements that would be more comfortable to young men. Kaishaku obviously serialized Kannazuki no Miko and Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora in male oriented magazines because... well, it's pretty obvious to me at least. First and foremost reason: lesbians are still in a minority, and those kind of relationships are mostly fantasized by men. Kannazuki no Miko's prevailing theme was a relationship between two women that was idealized for a man's vision of them. There were bishounen in KnM but that doesn't mean it had BL/shoujo themes/elements. It just had bishounen.

Don't get me wrong; I love that both men and women can enjoy this show, because it has both moe and bishounen. I believe these kinds of shows are winners, still I'm not going to get out of my way and proclaim it as a shoujo show just because I'm a rabid BL fangirl who sees things that aren't there. (And I'm not.)

There are so many titles available on the japanese paper publishing market that there is a need to target titles to readers systematically, unless their consumer base, as big as it is, would just be confused. They wouldn't know what to buy.

Thanks for pointing out an important fact about the distinction.
But I don't think I downplayed its role.
It started at a time when men's and women's tastes were extremely different and such a difference are getting less significant these days.
Just think about why Marimitte is popular among guys.
And that's why the publishers and anime producers care about the other sex that is not officially thought of as the target audience of a title.

Quote:

And I hope you're not missing a valuable point here: manga serialized in seinen magazines will always be called seinen manga, and that's because the author started out with elements that would be more comfortable to young men.
....

Don't get me wrong; I love that both men and women can enjoy this show, because it has both moe and bishounen. I believe these kinds of shows are winners, still I'm not going to get out of my way and proclaim it as a shoujo show just because I'm a rabid BL fangirl who sees things that aren't there. (And I'm not.)

Well, I'm not so big a fan of BL and I don't find Kyoshiro interesting.
And I partially agree with you in that mangas in seinen or shounen mags do have elements for them.
What I'm saying is some of them are aimed even at girls or women and the titles I mentioned including Kyoshiro are the examples.
Remember, one who decides the target of a title is its author and the marketing team in its publisher, not readers.
The latter can like or dislike their policy but they don't have right to demanding what a title should be like.
For it is not a fanservice but a business and they are just following the trend.

Quote:

Kaishaku obviously serialized Kannazuki no Miko and Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora in male oriented magazines because... well, it's pretty obvious to me at least. First and foremost reason: lesbians are still in a minority, and those kind of relationships are mostly fantasized by men. Kannazuki no Miko's prevailing theme was a relationship between two women that was idealized for a man's vision of them. There were bishounen in KnM but that doesn't mean it had BL/shoujo themes/elements. It just had bishounen.

I understand that you are probably a Westerner who by common sense thinks that girls who like yuri are lesbians.
Most East Asian girls who like yuri are not lesbians and that explains why it is said that females compose 50% of yuri fans there.
This is a facet of East Asian culture that has its own history but I don't want to explicate it here.
So you might need to find another reason for serializing KnM and Kyoshiro in male oriented mags.
They do so because they know males spend more money on manga in general and and came to find a huge male need for yuri by the big hit of Marimitte.
There were lesbian animes for adults even before Marimitte, which were aimed at males in every sense, needless to say.
The yuri contents after Marimitte are neutral in their character.
And that allows the publishers to advertise them even in female oriented mags, which they do actually.
A yuri serialized in male oriented mags but advertised in both male and female oriented mags, that's the standard type these days.

Just like many of you I have to revise my first impressions upon my views for the start of this series.

Episode two successfully answered many of the weird mysteries and out of place unknowns introduced in the first episode. It is this episode that truly sets the plotline in motion.

Basically, it introduces three subplots for each sets of group characters.

1. Kuu possess a mysterious potential that appeals to Kyoshiro's interests. However, being the gentlemanly prince that he is, Kyoshiro is not going to force Kuu to come with them but rather to extend her an invitation to come together.

As I was suspecting since episode one and just as Kuu was nervous asking to Setsuna, I do believe that Setsuna in fact harbors a tender feeling for Kyoshiro, but she's unwilling to speak it out fearing it'll be rude or uncomfortable to Kyoshiro.

If you paid close attention, when Kyoshiro was holding hands with Kuu and pulling her closely to him on a tender manner, Setsuna was motionless watching (as the good Angel that serves her Master with obedience) but her eyes are wavering, which is an evident sign that she's keeping the pain and jealousy on herself and building up.

And I do have at least a simple look of how this route between the three of them is going to lead in a later episode.

2. The second subplot features the reincarnated characters of KnM into Kaon and Himiko. No matter how close they remain to each other, they can never be together since all powers involved are making use of Absolute Angel. Exactly which goal is to be achieved remains a mystery, what is known is that the initial introduction of both girls made them look to be antagonists.

This is not the case because both are constantly tormented and bullied by the lustful and selfish desires of Mika, who I presume is the leader of the Moon Spiral.
She actually harbors intense, lustful desires for Kaon and is fiercely jealous watching how receptive Kaon is to Himiko.

She torments and psychologically abuses Kaon in order to subdue her and to make hers and finds that the most effective mechanism to break Kaon's will is to have her way with Himiko out of grudge to the latter's compliance, as just as Kaon cannot act against her master and watches helplessly Himiko being picked on by the other girls or to be punished by Mika.

I can imagine that Mika sexually assaults Himiko for punishment and may has done many ecchi things to her to demoralize her and thus earning every time Kaon's hatred and contempt.
It's obvious that on a later arc Kaon will snap and return back the pain and humiliation to Mika a 1000x worse; it's for certain.

3. The third suplot is about Kuu's mysterious prince.

I know that in episode one she mentioned his name, but I do not remember it. Anyone knows the name of Kuu's prince?

Kyoshiro comments he has an older brother, so common sense would tell me to jump right to the conclusion that Kuu's prince and Kyoshiro must be siblings.

Spoiler:

However, I cannot fathom that hypothesis.

Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora may has also picked up carry over motifs from Utena.

In Utena there were Akio Ohtori and Dios, Utena's prince. They looked physically alike but were opposite entities.

I can believe the same goes for Kuu's prince and Kyoshiro. Maybe Kyoshiro is just too perfect to be true and might be holding some dark secret, and once Kuu finds it out either by casual encounter or destiny she's going to be devastated.

I'm also apologizing for the opening song, Cross*Heart, since having it listened to for the second time it makes to begin warming up to the song, but I do disagree that song is fitting for the opening video; it's just too fairy-talish, fantasy, and sweet for the tone of the opening footage.

Someone mentioned that they missed this show not features KOTOKO performing either of the OP or ED songs.
If Face of Fact ~ Resolution Ver. ~, would had not been used as the OP for BALDR FORCE, then that song would had been my suggestion to be used for the OP to this series; it's fitting.

Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to post something more that slipped from me.

From episode two this I understood.

Spoiler:

Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora is picking carry over influences not only from Kannazuki no Miko and possibly Utena, but also from Steel Angel.

The Absolute Angels supposedly are the next level and perfected models to the Steel Angels. The perfect humans who cannot be destroyed and gather Eternal Mana, life and knowledge, through kissing a human.

It makes to wonder if this show is somehow a sort of pseudo-sequel or pseudo-spinoff to Steel Angel much like also borrow heavy spin-off influences from Kannazuki no Miko.

BTW, "Let's Go. Together" has become the official trademark line for this show and is going to be heard fairly throughout the earlier episodes.

I'm happy that the second episode carried on the beautiful feeling of the series - this'll be one series i'll have to buy the R2 Japanese DVD's for win-win quality. Time for a bit of speculation~

Spoiler for speculation:

Just like Guido, the second i heard Kyoshiro mention his brother i thought about Kuu's prince that appeared at the start of the first episode. Now you have to wonder just when that actually happened - with Kuu looking to be the same age, it could be a month ago, or even a few days. I'm starting to think its some kind of dream & it could be related to whatever reason she's been brought into all this.

We also have release dates for the OP & ED.. though no OST release yet. Thats what has me refreshing sites now and then.

Also, i checked out the first volume of the manga *points to his avatar*. Its just pas beautiful as the anime, probably a lot more - though its seriously in need of a lot more colored pages, though that can't be helped.

I'm starting to think people need to see KnM before watching this to get this, not because of any references to the plot, but because of the similarities in style and swagger. I think a lot of people miss that this is an unusual style of story-telling (with an unusual story) where the emphasis isn't so much on creating a premise and following a plot, but more on putting the main character in overwhelming situations and following how she emotionally reacts. Which is why both this and KnM have easily-awed main characters and lots of internal commentaries. I think it's a very unusual mix of shoujo or shounen that a lot of people find difficult to grasp.

Ep 2.
Even if this show does start sucking, I'll continue watching because I've just totally fallen in love with the soundtrack. That's the difference between this and other shows that people say suck... I know for certain that there'll be something in this that I like. But, tbh, I don't think this sucks. I'm actually quite enjoying this show, even though I'll admit that the over-the-top style, the bizarre character actions, the weird setting and premise, etc, are an acquired taste. The rules of engagement seem to be set and there's a stark parallel with Mai-Otome, in that "anything goes". That's fair enough, but I think that could pave the way for some deus ex machina appearing in the plot later on. I'm still worried that the antagonists are (again) flat, with Chikane's (I mean Kaon's) mistress seems generic and "evil" for the sake of it. The other two (whose names aren't important enough to remember) actually had a refreshingly human interaction, but it was hurt by an attempt at humour that wasn't that funny. At least there's a hint at more-than-meets-the-eye for those two.

Good stuff so far. I dig shows like this that are willing to be strange and draw things from several genres. I suppose it's just not for everyone.